Object direction control method and apparatus

Abstract

A direction control method and apparatus control the direction of a traveling object on a monitor, for example, in a video game device. An object having, for example, two elements to be directionally controlled with each of the elements being controllable in a rotational direction is displayed along with its background in a traveling state on a monitor. The object includes, for example, a war tank (31) used in a war game of a game device. The two elements to be directionally controlled includes a body (32) and a sight (33) of the tank (31). A target angle θ is designated by a single direction input unit 20(A) for the vehicle body (32) and the sight (33). The rotational direction of the sight (33) is controlled on the basis of the target angle θ. The rotational angle of the vehicle body (32) is controlled following the sight (33) on the basis of the traveling velocity of the tank (31) and the rotational angle Ya of the sight (33).

We claim: 
     
       1. An object direction control method for displaying on a monitor an object having a plurality of direction control elements each of which is controllable in a rotational direction, along with a background in a moving state, comprising the steps of: designating a target angle for the plurality of direction control elements;   controlling a rotational angle of one of the plurality of direction control elements on the basis of the target angle to turn the one direction control element in a rotational direction; and   controlling a rotational angle of at least one other direction control element to follow up the one direction control element by automatically turning the at least one other direction control element in the rotational direction of the one direction control element.   
     
     
       2. An object direction control method according to claim 1, wherein the number of direction control elements is two. 
     
     
       3. An object direction control method according to claim 2, wherein the object comprises a war tank used in a tank game of a game device, and the two direction control elements comprise a body and a sight of the tank. 
     
     
       4. An object direction control method according to claim 3, wherein the one direction control element comprises the sight, and the at least one other direction control element comprises the body of the tank. 
     
     
       5. An object direction control method according to claim 1, wherein a velocity at which the one direction control element is turned depends upon a moving velocity of the object. 
     
     
       6. An object direction control method according to claim 5, wherein a new rotational angle Ya of the one direction control element is given by   Ya=Yb+Ka·θ     where θ is the target angle, Yb is a current rotational angle of the one direction control element, and Ka is a constant.   
     
     
       7. An object direction control method according to claim 5, wherein the at least one other direction control element is turned depending on the moving velocity of the object and the rotational angle of the one direction control element. 
     
     
       8. An object direction control method according to claim 7, wherein a new rotational angle Za of the at least one other direction control element is given by   Zo=Ya       Za=Zb+Kb·V·(Zo-Zb)     where Zo is a target rotational angle of the at least one other direction control element, Ya is the rotational angle of the one direction control element, Zb is a current rotational angle of the at least one other direction control element, Kb is a constant, and V is the moving velocity of the object.   
     
     
       9. An object direction control method according to claim 8, wherein the turning velocity of the one direction control element is slightly higher than a maximum turning velocity of the at least one other direction control element. 
     
     
       10. An object direction control method according to claim 1, wherein the step of controlling the rotational angle of the at least one other direction control element includes the substep of controlling the rotational angle of the at least one other direction control element to automatically turn the at least one other direction control element in the rotational direction of the one direction control element with delay.   
     
     
       11. An object direction control apparatus for displaying on a monitor an object having a plurality of direction control elements each of which is controllable in a rotational direction, along with a background in a moving state, comprising: target angle designating means for designating a target angle for the plurality of direction control elements;   first direction control means for controlling a rotational direction of one of the plurality of direction control elements on the basis of the target angle to turn the one direction control element in the rotational direction; and   second direction control means for controlling a rotational direction of at least one other direction control element to follow up the one direction control element by automatically turning the at least one other direction control element in the rotational direction of the one direction control element.   
     
     
       12. An object direction control apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the number of the plurality of direction control elements is 2, wherein the object is a war tank used in a tank game in a game device, and wherein the two direction control elements comprise a body and a sight of the tank. 
     
     
       13. An object direction control apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said target angle designating means comprises a single direction input unit for manually inputting direction data on the target angle. 
     
     
       14. An object direction control apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the first direction control means comprises means for rotating the one direction control element at a velocity in accordance with the target angle, and means for calculating a new rotational angle Ya of the one direction control element, given by   Ya=Yb+Ka·θ     where θ is the target angle, Yb is a current rotational angle of the one direction control element, and Ka is a constant.   
     
     
       15. An object direction control apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the second direction control means comprises means for rotating the at least one other direction control element in accordance with a moving velocity of the object and the rotational angle of the one direction control element, and means for calculating a new rotational angle Za of the at least one other direction control element by   Zo=Ya       Za=Zb+Kb·V·(Zo-Zb)     where Zo is a target rotational angle of the at least one other direction control element, Ya is the rotational angle of the one direction control element, Zb is a current rotational angle of the at least one other direction control element, Kb is a constant, and V is the moving velocity of the object.   
     
     
       16. An object direction control method for displaying on a monitor an object having a plurality of direction control elements each of which is controllable in a rotational direction, along with a background in a moving state, comprising the steps of: designating a target angle for the plurality of direction control elements;   controlling a rotational angle of one of the plurality of direction control elements on the basis of the target angle to rotate the one direction control element by a degree equal to the rotational angle at a first velocity of rotation; and   controlling a rotational angle of at least one other direction control element to rotate the at least one other direction control element by a degree corresponding to the rotational angle of the one direction control element at a second velocity of rotation different than the first velocity of rotation.   
     
     
       17. An object direction control apparatus for displaying on a monitor an object having a plurality of direction control elements each of which is controllable in a rotational direction, along with a background in a moving state, comprising: target angle designating means for designating a target angle for the plurality of direction control elements;   first direction control means for controlling the rotational direction of one of the plurality of direction control elements on the basis of the target angle to rotate the one direction control element in the rotational direction at a first velocity of rotation; and   second direction control means for controlling the rotational direction of at least one other direction control element to rotate the at least one other direction control element in the rotational direction corresponding to the rotational direction of the one direction control element at a second velocity of rotation different than the first velocity of rotation.